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Wednesday, 25 May 2011

Here are a couple of Spanish Civil War Crossfire games I photgraphed a few years ago.

2005 Game

An encounter battle. Republicans are to the left of the road, Nationalists to the right. A Republican attempt to move round the left flank failed, but following a long fire-fight a Republican assault captured the building in the Nationalist centre effectively winning the game. The fields are made from an 'astro-turf' mat, a quick way of mass-producing the cover you need for a Crossfire game.

The Spanish Civil War was my first Crossfire project, and I am indebted to Steven Thomas's Balagan website for all aspects of Spanish Civil War research. I modeled my original two forces on the International Brigade and the Falange as these are iconic, but they represent only two of the many forces/factions involved. I have since added Legionaries, Moors, Carlists and Anarchist Militia.

Tuesday, 10 May 2011

Arty Conliffe's Crossfire (CF) is an innovative set of WW2 rules that captures the ebb and flow of infantry battle. It's my favourite wargame. It's the one I play most. And it's the one that most impresses me 'intellectually'. Like all great games its basic mechanisms are simple but subtle. It's not hardware-driven and armour plays only a minor role, so it doesn’t suit wall-to-wall tankies.

It's readily adaptable to 'low tech' pre-war conflicts such as the Spanish Civil War (1936-7). But the rules have interesting concepts and mechanisms which others have adapted and taken back to WW1 or forward to Vietnam.

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